According to the police, the accused man was "high on drugs" when he killed the two priests, and is still in a drugged state. He will be questioned as soon as the drugs wear off, a police officer said, adding that there seems to be nothing communal about the crime.

"The two babas lived here at the temple. One person named Murai alias Raju, who belongs to a scheduled caste, took away a ''chimta'' (tongs) for which he was scolded and abused by the priests. After the murder, villagers were looking for him and spotted him drugged with bhang, with bare minimum clothes," a senior police officer, Santosh Kumar Singh, told news agency ANI.

The man had allegedly been raging since the priests accused him of theft. Mr Singh said last night, apparently after taking bhang (cannabis), he went into the temple and killed both with a sword.

The killings come days after two sadhus and their driver were lynched by a mob in Maharashtra's Palghar, allegedly over rumours that they were involved in the kidnapping of children for organs.

Several BJP leaders and also the party's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have alleged that the sadhus were killed by design, but the Maharashtra government denied any communal angle.

Priyanka Chaturvedi, a leader of Maharashtra's ruling Shiv Sena, tweeted: "Terrible news to read and expect the UP government to take stern action. Hope some sections of the media and keyboard warriors don't attempt to communalise this issue and blame the CM (Chief Minister) at a time when the state and country are battling Covid."